Stupid Is As Stupid Does - Part the Second

When I compared Palin and Hasselbeck to Lucy and Ethel, I thought I might be exaggerating. Now that I've forced myself to watch Hasselbeck open for Palin, I realize that I wasn't far off. Grab a bottle of Tums™ and watch the hilarity and hijinks.



Who the fuck wrote this opening for her? I was waiting for them to start stuffing chocolate bon-bons down their blouses.

And after the whole idiotic wardrobe kerfuffle, why would they bring it up again? Here's why:

Ensuring that news of the Republican National Committee's sartorial spending spree will remain in the headlines for at least one more news cycle, Sarah Palin on Sunday sounded off on the $150,000 wardrobe that was purchased for her in September, denouncing the report as "ridiculous" and declaring emphatically: "Those clothes, they are not my property."

A senior adviser to John McCain told CNN's Dana Bash that the comments about her wardrobe "were not the remarks we sent to her plane this morning." Palin did not discuss the wardrobe story at her rally in Kissimmee later in the day.

They completely ignored the McCain campaign's wishes to let sleeping dogs lie and not mention the $150,000 Nieman Marcus and Saks shopping spree and inserted it into their stump speech before getting bitchslapped and omitting it later on.

The View starts in 7 minutes. I've never said this before, but I can't wait to tune in and watch the fireworks, although I'm guessing that Behar and Goldberg will treat Hasselbeck with kid gloves for fear of making her cry again.

UPDATE (11:27am):

I was right. Barbara Walters took control of the first segment and they had a calm discussion about Hasselbeck's appearance, including the "accessories" line from her speech.

For those of you who couldn't stomach watching the video above, the line was, "I'm actually personally most impressed by her accessories. You know, like the flag pin that she wears in honor of her son and our military men and women fighting abroad... no they didn't list that accessory and its value in their reports, did they? You know why? Because they know it's priceless." (I just vomited a little in the back of my throat.)

Hasselbeck says she brought up the wardrobe "scandal" because she wanted to diffuse it and end it right then and there. Of course she didn't realize that the story was dying down and she only helped to keep it in the spotlight... which they did for yet another day by featuring it on The View.

Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar were very, shall we say, respectful and insisted that this was an issue not because it was sexist, as Hasselbeck claims, but because this is what people latch on to. Whoopi cited examples of Bill Clinton suits, Nancy Reagan's wardrobe, how people were deriding Hillary Clinton's wardrobe and that she couldn't dress well (which drew a smile from Hasselbeck if you were paying attention) and John Edwards' haircut.

Behar argued the point that Palin could have refused the clothing because of the fact that she is trying to portray herself as the Wal-Mart hockey mom. Walters didn't blame Palin, but the Republican National Committee for the shopping spree and since Palin has too many things to think about, clothes isn't one of them. Fair enough.

Can we drop this non story now? I'd rather concentrate on things like Palin's (and surrogates) touting of an "agreement to build" a $40 billion natural gas pipeline that hasn't been built, hasn't even started construction in fact, and has experts agreeing that it may never get done.

Anchorage Daily News Endorses Obama

Although they overdo it in the compliment department in my opinion, the Anchorage Daily News hits the nail on the head regarding their own governor.

...Gov. Palin's nomination clearly alters the landscape for Alaskans as we survey this race for the presidency -- but it does not overwhelm all other judgment. The election, after all is said and done, is not about Sarah Palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, Sen. John McCain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation.

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, brings far more promise to the office. In a time of grave economic crisis, he displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand. The same cannot be said of Sen. McCain.

...despite [Palin's] formidable gifts, few who have worked closely with the governor would argue she is truly ready to assume command of the most important, powerful nation on earth. To step in and juggle the demands of an economic meltdown, two deadly wars and a deteriorating climate crisis would stretch the governor beyond her range. Like picking Sen. McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time.

Must Reads

Bob Herbert: Crises On Many Fronts

And the comedians take over...

Larry David: Waiting for Nov. 4th

Richard Lewis: And Larry David Thinks He's Frightened?

Albert Brooks: Not To Worry

Fruit Flies. I Kid You Not.

See Sarah speak.
See Sarah give her very first policy speech.
See Sarah speak about special needs.
See Sarah speak about autism.
See Sarah belittle earmarks for "projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good. "

"Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not."



See Sarah scoff at science.
See Sarah look like the complete fucking idiot she is in not realizing that research in fruit flies led to discoveries that boosted autism research.

Pharyngula: This idiot woman, this blind, shortsighted ignoramus, this pretentious clod, mocks basic research and the international research community. You damn well better believe that there is research going on in animal models — what does she expect, that scientists should mutagenize human mothers and chop up baby brains for this work? — and countries like France and Germany and England and Canada and China and India and others are all respected participants in these efforts.

Yes, scientists work on fruit flies. Some of the most powerful tools in genetics and molecular biology are available in fruit flies, and these are animals that are particularly amenable to experimentation. Molecular genetics has revealed that humans share key molecules, the basic developmental toolkit, with all other animals, thanks to our shared evolutionary heritage (something else the wackaloon from Wasilla denies), and that we can use these other organisms to probe the fundamental mechanisms that underlie core processes in the formation of the nervous system — precisely the phenomena Palin claims are so important.

This is what happens in an unorganized, dying campaign and political party that doesn't vet its candidates or even have the sense to have scientific minds peruse the speech to verify that the contents are accurate.

But perhaps Rev. Muthee got a copy of her speech and although he was upset that sacrificing a goat wasn't in the plan to advance discoveries for early indication of autism, blessed it with chicken's blood, shook a bone over it and exorcised the witches out so that Palin would have a successful speech.

BZZZT!!!! Oh, I'm sorry. Wrong again, Miss Wasilla and such as.

(H/T Crooks & Liars)

Ashley Todd - Another Nutball

PITTSBURGH - Pittsburgh police say a McCain campaign volunteer made up a story of being robbed, pinned to the ground and having the letter "B'' scratched on her face in a politically inspired attack.

I don't mean to make light of Todd's possible mental problems, but it is amazing to me that this story was on the national scene so quickly without verification as to its validity. Even bloggers who had no knowledge except the story itself and the picture of the "victim" were skeptical. For Jebus' sake, the "B" supposedly carved into her face by a knife is backwards and looks like it was scratched in with a fingernail not to mention the make up black eye.

And yet, imbeciles like Sean Hannity had this story front and center and was outraged, OUTRAGED I TELL YOU! at the depths of evil the Obama supporting Democrats who also happened to be muggers would go. I wonder if Hannity will make a statement or retract his remarks?

Music Break! Ben Folds Five Reunion

I need a political break. My mind if fried. I can't stand listening to Palin and McCain, who at this very moment is blaming the Democrats and Obama for the alternative minimum tax. For years, the Republicans have blocked legislation to raise the ceiling on the AMT and now more than 30 million people are whacked by it every April 15th. In fact, it was the Reagan administration that fucked it all up ot begin with. Yeah, that's right. The great Ronald Reagan.

And now that wrinkly assed douchebag is now laying it on the feet of the Dems and Obama?! Fuck you, McCain. I can't wait for you to fade into oblivion. Just 11 more days. Old soldiers never die, they just sit on one of their seven front porches yelling at kids to get off their lawn.

I need a music break.

MySpace is doing these cool "front to back" concerts asking bands to play a whole album in order. Ben Folds is one of my favorites. If you have a spare 53 minutes, enjoy "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner."

Ben Folds Five - MySpace Front To Back concert

T Minus 88 Days

"One of the things I've used on the Google is to pull up maps. It's very interesting to see - I've forgot the name of the program - but you get the satellite, and you can - like, I kinda like to look at the ranch. It remind [sic] me of where I wanna be sometimes."

- CNBC, October 24, 2006

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

A few weeks ago, John McCain was on one of the best morning shows in the history of television, The View (they don't call it the Boob Tube for nothin'), and was promptly reamed a new asshole by the likes of Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg.

The View co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who I am certain has some kind of "Dorian Gray" portrait hidden somewhere in the depths of the studio basement, asked a pertinent question here and there prefacing it of course, with the fact the she was going to vote for McCain anyway, just like a good little Republican whore.

Now Hasselbeck is joining Miss Wasilla on the campaign trail. The GOP's answer to Thelma and Louise, Elisabeth and Sarah are going to hit Florida running.

“[McCain is] the most unifying figure in the Senate. Barack Obama is so far left,” Hasselbeck said Wednesday. Turning to her co-host, Joy Behar, an Obama supporter, she said: “Do you want some more Barack Obama Kool-Aid, or what?”
Hasselbeck also criticized the media Wednesady for its focus on the money the Republican National Committee spent on Palin’s clothing: “Are you looking into Joe Biden’s supposed botox shots in his forehead?” she said.

I have a confession to make. At one point in my life, I was addicted to Survivor. The only season I watched was the Hasselbeck (Filarski I should say... Elisabeth Filarski) season... and I thought she was a little hottie. Little did I know how amazingly stupid she was and still is. So I'm guessing that Palin and Hasselbeck might look something like this on the campaign trail.



I'm hoping to see some actual bloopers from Mooselini and the female Dorian Gray soon. Maybe they'll have a fashion face off.

Pfotenhauer Pfucked

Yesterday Chris Matthews was pissed off about Palin's "definition" of the role of the Vice President when trying to answer a third grader's question. He asked McCain campaign senior policy advisor Nancy Pfotenhauer to defend Palin answer. The result: Instant classic television.



Pfotenhauer was pfucked in her defense. Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton just sat and watched... with a big smile on his face.

Rudy Robocalls Withconthin

Can you imagine getting a call like this?

Hi, thith ith Rudy Giuliani and I'm calling for John McCain and the Republican National Committee, becauthe you need to know that Barack Obama oppotheth mandatory prithon thententheth for thex offenderth, drug dealerth, and murdererth. It'th true, I read Obama'th wordth mythelf. And rethently, Congrethional liberalth introduthed a bill to eliminate mandatory prithon thententheth for violent criminalth -- trying to give liberal judgeth the power to dethide whether criminalth are thent to jail or thet free. With prioritieth like thethe, we jutht can't trutht the inethperienthe and judgment of Barack Obama and hith liberal allieth. Thith call wath paid for by the Republican National Committee and McCain-Palin 2008.

Al-Qaeda Endorses McCain

Fresh off the heels of Colin Powell's ringing endorsement of Barack Obama comes this interesting little tidbit of information:

Al-Qaida supporters suggested in a Web site message this week they would welcome a pre-election terror attack on the U.S. as a way to usher in a McCain presidency.

The message, posted Monday on the password-protected al-Hesbah Web site, said if al-Qaida wants to exhaust the United States militarily and economically, "impetuous" Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain is the better choice because he is more likely to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"This requires presence of an impetuous American leader such as McCain, who pledged to continue the war till the last American soldier," the message said. "Then, al-Qaida will have to support McCain in the coming elections so that he continues the failing march of his predecessor, Bush."

Now, we really don't care what Al-Qaeda thinks and I'm taking this news with a grain of salt because had it been the other way around, I'd probably feel the same way and I'm really trying to be objective, but isn't it obvious that if we keep depleting our resources (military, treasury, our economy in the tank) that a continuaiton of the war, which is what a McCain presidency would bring us, would have the effect that Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden wanted in the first place? Isn't that why they targeted the WORLD TRADE Center? Hit them in the pocketbook is always a knock out blow.

I'm guessing the McCain campaign will try to spin this as a scare tactic by the "liberal" media who is obviously in the tank for Obama, or just blame the Obama campaign - they blame everything else on them so I'm not expecting anything different - but we'll find out soon enough.

Say It Ain't So, Joe

You couldn't do it, could you, Joe. You could keep your trap shut for just two more weeks. Fourteen stinking days was all that was left before the most important election maybe ever, and you had to plant your foot firmly in your piehole.

"...And here's the point I want to make. Mark my words. Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy. And he's gonna have to make some really tough - I don't know what the decision's gonna be, but I promise you it will occur. As a student of history and having served with seven presidents, I guarantee you it's gonna happen. I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate..."

Are you fucking kidding me?

I've been out of touch since Sunday because of an AIDS benefit fundraiser and worked 36 hours straight, so when I got home and this was the first thing I heard, my mind couldn't process it. I figured something was taken out of context. I went to bed and when I got up, there was Sarah Fucking Palin using the "scenarios" line in one of her fear mongering speeches. You gotta be fucking kidding.

And then I got angry because I realized that it doesn't matter if what Biden said was taken out of context. He said it and now it was going to be used as ammunition fourteen days away from Election Day. He was doing so well too... except for the "Hillary Clinton would've been a better pick" line. I love you Joe, but Jesus H(ussein) Christ, what the hell happened to the brain filter in your head? Did it blow out with your aneurysm? Is it like a leaky gasket - the brain fluid seeps into the engine and comes out as blue smoke cloud from your mouth? It's the gaffe gift that keeps on giving.

I still haven't heard it on tape and am still too cross-eyed to read the whole transcript to figure out what the hell he was thinking, but like I said, it doesn't matter. It just became fodder for the GOP, the McCain campaign and the media to feast on and distract us for another fleeting day - and that pisses me off.

T Minus 91 Days

"I don't want nations feeling like that they can bully ourselves and our allies. I want to have a ballistic defense system so that we can make the world more peaceful, and at the same time I want to reduce our own nuclear capacities to the level commiserate with keeping the peace."

- Des Moines, Iowa, October 2000

Oh. My. God. How did this quote not kill his run? (By the way, "commiserate" is not a typo.)

Palin's Song

Some (or probably most) of the 6 people that come here on a regular basis might not know that I'm a big jazz fan, which is why I find this video so funny. Enjoy!

Must Reads

Mike Barnicle: McCain At Sunset

Margaret & Helen: Sarah Palin is a bitch.... there I said it. and Yep. I called her a bitch and I am not taking it back.

Frank Rich: He Just Can’t Quit W

Palin on SNL

You can tell that Palin did not enjoy making jokes at her own expense. She pretty much got skewered by Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin and if you watch her face, I'm not so sure that was acting, which defeats the whole purpose of her being on the show.

I don't think her Saturday Night Live appearance did her any favors. I haven't watched the "rap" section she was involved in, but I'll update this post when I do... I'm not hearing good things about it so far.

UPDATE (1:45pm):

Oh. My. God. Once again, I have to say that Palin is not funny - what Republican is? - but the rap is actually pretty good. Thank Jebus that Palin didn't do it, not that she would have the talent to pull something off like that, there's no breakin' it down to a flute solo. I personally didn't find it offensive or racist... but that's just me.

Colin Powell Endorses Obama!

BAM!



UPDATE (4:55pm):

KA-POW!



(H/T Bob Cesca)

The Final Days of John McCain

These past few days have been scary. I'm not talking about a standard, figurative scary. I'm talking about never seeing things like this in my lifetime, thinking that the sins of the past were history and how we couldn't possibly go back to those horrible places again. I'm dumbfounded by the turn of events that have taken place over the last few days and how I could have been so wrong.

I always knew that race and racism have been and still are issues in this country, but it was always lurking underneath; a not so pretty, guarded chamber of man's soul that had laid dormant for at least the last twenty or thirty years. Of course, there are code words racists use to show their colors such as "affirmative action" and "immigration reform." In my own life, being of Hispanic descent I have occasionally been the victim of some racist taunts or comments. In my lifetime, there have been hate crimes based on race, but overall it's been few and far between in comparison to the civil rights movement of the 60s. I never thought it would ever get as bad as it had been "back in the day."

But with the new hate-filled speeches of McCain and especially Palin, depicting Barack Obama as someone you should fear - a one-man terrorist cell, a Manchurian candidate, someone who "sees America as so imperfect that he pals around with terrorists" - the dormant volcano of racism in America has erupted into some very ugly scenes at the McCain/Palin rallies.

Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. McCain

In the last seven days alone, we've seen Senator Erratic trade in his Maverick's license, which had been suspended for quite some time, for a chance at the golden ring. In his performance at the final presidential debate, McCain came off even angrier than is usual cantankerous self and then joked on a revealing Letterman interview, where he caught himself in mid-lie at least three times, having to revise his answer in the same breath that he uttered the falsehood. McCain also apologized to "Joe the plumber" for drawing attention to his story and putting him in the national spotlight after mentioning him 21 times during the debate, then blamed Obama for "smearing" Joe and exposing his private life.

McCain said that he has repudiated all of the hate filled rhetoric against Obama at his rallies (another lie) - calling shouts of "terrorist," "traitor," and "kill him" fringe elements - while hiring the same company that was used against his campaign in 2000 to robocall and continue the Obama/William Ayers smear just this past week. This is the same tactic that McCain called "hate calls" when used against him eight years ago.

Guilt by association and sowing the seeds of doubt from McCain and Palin are only serving to perpetuate the fear and hate. They have nothing else to run on - they fail on the issues, they fail on their policies - so the only other alternative is character assassination. But character is not the only thing they may be inadvertently urging to assassinate. This is dangerous territory they are treading on and Georgia Rep. John Lewis got it right.

"As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign. What I am seeing today reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.

During another period, in the not too distant past, there was a governor of the state of Alabama named George Wallace who also became a presidential candidate. George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who only desired to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed one Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama.

As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Governor Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better."

Of course the McCain campaign took umbrage at Lewis' statement, concentrating on the Wallace section and dismissing the very essence of Lewis' meaning. Fear breeds contempt and hatred and we've seen that in spades at the McCain/Palin rallies. They've encouraged it.They've stoked it. Will it take someone to be being beaten or killed before they understand the nature of Lewis' remarks instead of painting it as a smear, feeling "saddened" by his remarks and asking Obama to repudiate a leader of the Civil Rights Movement? Will they listen if and when someone dies in a hate crime incited by their campaign rhetoric? By their guilt by association tactic? And by then, won't it already be too late?

I watch the videos of the crowds' overt racism and it truly scares me. What does it say about Sarah Palin when she thinks she can differentiate between "pro-American" parts of the country and anti-American parts? Does she believe that anyone who doesn't support her is anti-American?

Is this what she thinks is "pro-American"?

Or this?

Or maybe this?

What does it say about Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann when she suggests that Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid are anti-American because of their "liberal" views? The same liberals she rails against, by the way, are the ones who fought for her right to vote and her right to run for office!

What does it say for us as a collective people that imbeciles like Palin and Bachmann get elected into office?

Luckily, I do believe that we are in the final days of daily McCain and Palin sightings. It's just another 18 days until the election. Soon, they'll be out of sight, out of mind. McCain can go back to the Senate and become irrelevant as his maverick status no longer applies and eventually die the bitter, old bastard that he truly is. Palin can go back to Alaska and get voted out of office in her next election bid after the ugliness we've seen exposed - the Troopergate controversy alone showing her native Alaskan voters that she is no different from the people she replaced, and then have the free time to help her husband cheat on his taxes.

In eighteen days we start a new chapter in American history. In eighteen days we take our country back as citizens of the United States and finally beat down the Rovian machine that has been holding us back for far too long. In eighteen days.

Eighteen long days.

T Minus 94 Days

"September the fourth, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It's a day I will never forget."

- Marlton, NJ, October 18, 2004

Palin Family Values

Piper is just so fucking adorable, isn't she?

ADDING, I don't know what's more hideous in this picture, a little girl flipping the bird or Sarah Palin's coat.

McCain on Letterman

When I first heard that John McCain was invited back to The Late Show I got pissed. I figured Letterman would say it was water under the bridge, would let bygones by bygones and make McCain look like a hero. I was wrong.

Not only did Dave ask some very pertinant questions of McCain, but he also held his feet to the fire when the Maverick tried to weasel his way out of answering questions with a joke and a mug to the camera. McCain played his POW card again when he said, "I haven't had this much fun since I was interrogated." The line fell flat to my ears and although Dave chuckled, he wasn't having any of it.

If you can bear to watch it, you can see the wheels spinning in McCain's peabrain as he catches himself in mid-lie a couple of times and tries to correct himself - the Palin "palling around with terrorists" line and his association with G. Gordon Liddy are just two questions off the top of my head where McSquirmy started to lie and then caught himself, knowing full well that the audience just wasn't going to buy it.

I don't think this interview helped McCain any. He didn't mention anything new, just his routine stump speech. "I know how to get Bin Laden." "Palin's a reformer, I'm proud of her." Blah, blah, blah. Nothing new.

By the way, CBS disabled its own "embed this video" widget for this interview. Could it be that McThuselah wasn't happy with his performance and had the "liberal media" shut it down?

(H/T Paddy)

O-BAM!-A

What The Fuck?!

Very presidential.

REUTERS/Jim Bourg

Joe The Plumber - Just Another Distraction - UPDATED

Here's what we've learned about Joe the plumber in the past 12 hours:

- He thinks social security is "a joke."

- He thinks going into Iraq was the right thing to do, "WMD's or not."

- He's undecided between Obama and McCain but it doesn't matter because he's not registered to vote!

- According to NPR, it is comfirmed that he does not make more than $250,000 per year. I'm still looking for documentation on that one.

More to come, with video of Joe's impromptu press conference in his driveway today.

*On a side note, Tucker Bounds is on MSNBC now. What a douhe - and can I say that I hate Alix Witt? She is a complete tool, has no facts in front of her to debate the typical talking points, and on a frivilous note, someone has to do something about the lion's mane she calls hair.

UPDATE (12:35pm):

My video software is out of whack, but here's Think Progress' video (about half of the interview).



And here's a bit from Buck Naked Politics:

I can't work out why ol' Joe thinks he is rich enough to be disadvantaged by Obama's tax plan or rich enough to afford McCain's. What part of "middle class tax breaks" does he find unappealing? Ah ha! Here you go:

Like everyone else in America, he talks like a pundit.

"McCain was solid in his performance," he says. "I still don't know where he stands," he says of Obama. "I'm middle class. I can't have my taxes raised any more."

He also says he actually isn't in the bracket where Obama would raise his taxes -- but he's worried that Obama will shift the bracket
down.

He also said that, in his encounter with Obama, the Illinois Senator "a tap dance...almost as good as Sammy Davis, Jr."
(Ben Smith)

I see: he's a member of the demographic group who feel more secure with a guy who is promising NOT to give them any tax breaks than with a guy who promises to give them tax breaks and tax only those with income of a quarter of a million. Huh. Say it ain't so, Joe!

And the Winner of Obama/McCain III Is...

... Joe the plumber. Joe found out that under Obama's plans, he won't have his taxes raised (he makes less than $250,000 the year) and that Obama's health plan won't put him out of business. Joe the plumber should vote for Obama. But he probably won't.

I'm confused as to whether McCain's performance was his best or his worst of the three debates. His best line, "I'm not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush you should have run four years ago" did score some points for about a minute before Obama retorted that if he confused McCain's policies with Bush's, it's because McCain supports W.'s policies so vigorously. Nevermind the fact that McCain DID run against George Bush four years ago and got his wrinkly ass kicked.

Obviously Obama won the night. All polls show that uncommitted voters (jeez, there are still uncommitteds out there?) and independents called it for Obama.

CBS Uncommitted Voters:
Obama 53%
McCain 22%
Tie 24%

CNN
Obama 58%
McCain31%

McCain cannot help himself. There is no question that he is a condescending curmudgeon and he is incapable of it. Perhaps this is the main reason he is lost every debate. I would like to think that it's because of his policies and his confusing arguments when trying to make his points, but the dumbing down of America has gotten to the crossroads of whether or not you "like" the person. Too many people vote for the likable person instead of the qualified person - luckily in this case, the likable person is the qualified person.

McCain subverting his own argument off the bat when describing William Ayers as not caring about "an old, washed up terrorist" didn't help him and abrogated the whole Ayers debate even before Obama responded, which he did succinctly along with the responding to the ridiculous ACORN scandal.

Where I feel McCain truly went off the rails was the abortion rights issue.

McCain: Just again, the example of the eloquence of Sen. Obama. He’s health for the mother. You know, that’s been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything.
That’s the extreme pro-abortion position, quote, “health.”

No, Senator McCain. Two points: first, there is no "pro-abortion" position in this country, it's called "Pro-Choice." I think you can pretty much guarantee that everyone who is pro-choice is is not "pro-abortion." Second, consideration of the health of the mother is not the "extreme" position. In fact, it's the Supreme Court's position. And again, if McCain wasn't so worried about throwing a bone to his evaporating base, he might not have said something so stupid. Trying to make the health of the mother a dance around a talking point on Obama's "eloquence" was a huge mistake when the majority of Americans are pro-choice.*

The drinking word of the night? Joe the plumber.
________________________________________
* Still researching the numbers.

Debate On! Part Trois

Eight hours remain before Obama/McCain III: "The Horror at Hofstra™."

Is this the night McCain finds his balls and brings up Bill Ayers to Obama's face?

“I was astonished to hear him say that he was surprised that I didn’t have the guts” to bring up Ayers, McCain said on KMOX, a St. Louis radio station. “I think he is probably ensured that it will come up this time.”

Let's see, Maverick. Let' s see it. Go ahead and bring Ayers up, then try to defend yourself regarding Rick Davis' Fannie and Freddie fortune, the Keating Five, and the bullshit excuse you're using for letting the animals at your rallies call for the killing of your opponent. Have your Colonel Jessup moment. It's all academic at this point anyway, you lying, miserable, gutless piece of shit.

The Audacity of Erraticism

How is it that someone can demand respect for one's opponent and then say they're going to kick their opponent's ass in the same breath? And yet, that is exactly what John McCain did this past Sunday.

"After I whip his you-know-what in this debate, we're going to be going out 24/7... I want to emphasize again, I respect Senator Obama. We will conduct a respectful race, and we will make sure that everybody else does, too."

What the fuck is going on? The post traumatic stress disorder has finally gotten the better of ol' Johnny Maverick. I'm not even going to attempt to call his comment veiled racism because he used the word, "whip." That's neither here nor there because what I found appalling was the response from the McCain campaign regarding the John Lewis "controversy."

After a few days of intense negativity from McCain and Palin to the point of inciting hate-filled ourbursts from audience member in their rallies, Rep. John Lewis of Georgia said the following:

McCain and running mate Sarah Palin were "sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse." He noted that Wallace also ran for president. "George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights... As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better."

Of course the McCain campaign was outraged at such statements, and challenged Barack Obama to repudiate Lewis' statements. as if Obama had anything to do with it.

"Congressman John Lewis' comments represent a character attack against Governor Sarah Palin and me that is shocking and beyond the pale. The notion that legitimate criticism of Senator Obama's record and positions could be compared to Governor George Wallace, his segregationist policies and the violence he provoked is unacceptable and has no place in this campaign. I am saddened that John Lewis, a man I've always admired, would make such a brazen and baseless attack on my character and the character of the thousands of hardworking Americans who come to our events to cheer for the kind of reform that will put America on the right track.
I call on Senator Obama to immediately and personally repudiate these outrageous and divisive comments that are so clearly designed to shut down debate 24 days before the election. Our country must return to the important debate about the path forward for America."

Now, call me cynical, but taking John Lewis' history as a civil rghts leader into account, I'm going to have to side with him on this one over the objections of McErratic.

It was obvious that Lewis was not comparing McCain to Wallace directly, but rather in the way he was raising the hackles of his audience with fear mongering, guilt by association and tone. And although McCain tried to tone down the nasty nature of his followers, the smear ads and surrogates continue to fan the flames, attempting to keep McCain above the fray, but failing.

Lewis later added this statement to avoid any confusion:

"My statement was a reminder to all Americans that toxic language can lead to destructive behavior," he said. "I am glad that Sen. McCain has taken some steps to correct divisive speech at his rallies. I believe we need to return to civil discourse in this election about the pressing economic issues that are affecting our nation."

But McCain wanted a statement from the Obama campaign, and he got one.

"John Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked just last night, as well as the baseless and profoundly irresponsible charges from his own running mate that the Democratic nominee for president of the United States 'pals around with terrorists,"' Burton said in a statement.

And just as a side note, McCain was touting John Lewis during the Saddleback Forum of a few weeks ago as one of three "wise men" that he consults on a regular basis. Another lie.

So on the one hand, McCain considers Lewis a "wise man" he would look to for advice, but when confronted by Lewis with a dangerous situation of his own making, he's another Obama surrogate just slinging mud. Just sayin'.

T Minus 99 Days

"One has a stronger hand when there's more people plaing your same cards."

- Washington, DC, October 11, 2006

Also, let's not forget to wish Ari Fleischer a Happy 48th Birthday!

Fleischer: "There is already a mountain of evidence that Saddam Hussein is gathering weapons... adding additional information is like adding a foot to Mount Everest."

Sweet, Sweet Sounds

Palin Booed at Philadelphia Flyers Game

It's like music to my ears...



And once again, Palin used props Piper and Willow, who had the privilege of listening to an arena full of non-screened individuals soundly boo the shit out of Mommy Mooselini. And you know what? I have no sympathy for them. If Palin wants to continue to use her family as a backdrop for the "hockey mom" meme, this is what they have to deal with.

Of course, Flyers management (probably at the insistence of owner Ed Snider) tried to drown out the crowd with some very loud fanfare music throughout the honorary puck dropping ceremony, but it didn't work. We heard what we heard, no spinning this one.

O-BAM!-A

A Sickening Feeling

Four years ago, I sat on my living room couch and watched a young politician I'd never heard of give an incredible speech at the Democratic National Convention. I immediately thought, "Where have they been hiding this guy?" I had never felt the combined feelings of awe, inspiration, national pride and hope all rolled into one - and evoked by a politician. And there he stood, calling to our better selves as one nation, as one people.

Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. The pundits, the pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue States: red states for Republicans, blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states. We coach little league in the blue states and, yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq, and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

He was presidential material then, and even I could recognize it.

The next day we all spoke of the new guy, Whatsitsname. What an amazing speech he gave, that guy, Whatsitsname. Too bad he can never be elected president - he wouldn't have a shot - there are too many racists in this country. Whatsitsname would never have a chance.

"Whatsitsname" was Barack Obama, and he announced his run for the Presidency two years later. Not only was he an African-American running for president, but he would have to take on the most powerful political machine in recent history. How could he possibly compete against Hillary Clinton, the Clinton machine and all her money? The night he won the Iowa primary, I finally believed it could happen. I thought if Iowa could vote for Obama over Clinton and Edwards, then so could others.

And then the smears began. The ugliness reared its head. Obama wasn't like us, he was "different." We heard rumors of Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers and Tony Rezko. We heard a Manchurian candidate theory. We heard that he was hiding a Muslim background, that he was educated in a madrassa when he was a child in Indonesia. We heard that his wife was never proud of her country until her husband ran for president, that he wouldn't recite the Pledge of Allegiance and would turn his back on the flag, that he wouldn't wear a flag pin on his lapel, that he took his oath of office not a Bible, but on a Koran. Veiled and not so veiled racism permeated everything and my euphoric feeling of national pride became one of shame and embarrassment.

But through it all, Obama's message of hope rang through. It didn't matter that the racists were throwing everything they could at him, he was coming out on top. Hope trumps fear. Change supersedes the status quo. We were tired of being beaten over and over again with the fear mongering, smear tactics and lies of the last seven years from the most corrupt administration in our nation's history, and we weren't going to take it anymore. And on August 28th 2008, forty-five years to the day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, Barack Obama was accepting the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

And then along comes the "honorable, maverick, war hero reformer" John Sidney McCain III and his peanut gallery of a campaign. Back in 2000, McCain was touted as one of those thorns in the side of his own party, voting his conscience, not kowtowing to the party line. That is, until the Rovian Machine of Destruction turned him into a shell of his former self with a smear campaign the likes of which we hadn't seen before. Up was down, left was right and black was the color of the illegitimate child the Bush campaign accused him of fathering.

But the 2008 John McCain, however much he may have stated that he wanted to run an honorable campaign, remembers the tactics that killed his 2000 campaign, and in a last ditch effort is throwing all of his chips into the pot to try and gain some traction with little more than three weeks left until Election Day. The problem is that he's miscalculated who he was reaching. Moderate Republicans, independents and Reagan Democrats have stopped responding to fear mongering, so the only people he is reaching are the frenzied base whose votes he already had. And boy, has he worked them up into a lather!

John McCain asks, "Who is the real Barack Obama?" Sarah Palin, a transparent vice presidential choice to appease the Republican base, stokes the flames of uncertainty when she says Obama doesn't see America as she sees it; that Obama sees America as "being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."

The fear chip, the Ayers chip, the mysterious foreigner chip, all politically designed to help decrease McCain's deficit in the polls has only caused a greater schism between the Democratic and undecided voters he's trying to woo, and the ever increasing radical base he is playing to. And at this point in the campaign, if you're still trying to win over your base instead of trying to expand your appeal, it's over.

But I fear it may be too late. The genie of racism has been let out of the bottle. And no matter how hard McCain may try to put it back, the damage has been done. The rage he's let loose, the fear and overt anti-Obama hate displayed at his rallies has truly made this a dangerous situation.

Unfortunately, it was always in the back of my mind that Senator Obama would inherently be in more danger solely because of the color of his skin. This danger has now been amplified by the nasty, hate-filled rhetoric of the McCain campaign, Sarah Palin and yes, the "honorable" John McCain. And there is no way that you cannot blame McCain for it. It's his name at the top of the ticket. He is responsible for the actions of his campaign, whether the idea to go this route was his, or Rick Davis' or Steve Schmidt's, McCain either approved it or went along with it knowing it was the last bullet in his gun. And seeing the hate from the pitchfork and torch crowds has given me a sickening feeling.

Music Break! Paul Hipp

I'm in the middle of a post that I'll put up later, but in the meantime since everything's gone to shit from the Dow to the hate-filled crowds being attracted to the McCain/Palin rallies like flies to shit, I thought I'd lighten the mood with a video that a friend turned me on to.

Here's Paul Hipp and "Acting Like A Dick."

T Minus 102 Days

"This morning my administration released the budget numbers for fiscal 2006. These budget numbers are not just estimates; these are actual results for the fiscal year that ended February the 30th."

- Washington, DC, October 2006 (referencing the 2006 fiscal year, which ended on September 30th)

Morning Joke™ Off The Rails

Scarborough, Buchanan and TIME's Washington bureau chief Jay Carney are sitting around in DC waiting for the Chimp in Chief's latest poo flinging, talking about the negative ads released today by the RNC and the McCain campaign associating Ayers and Rezko to Obama. Nothing new, right? Then I heard this (paraphrasing):

Carney: I don't think the ads are going to work because people are scared to death about the economy.

Buchanan: McCain missed an opportunity because the market is tanking after this $700 billion bailout and he should have voted against it. He could've been "in the catbird seat" if he had voted against bailing out Wall Street.

Scarborough: Well, why did he vote for it?

Wait for it... Ready?


Buchanan: Because he's an "ESTABLISHMENT GUY." He voted with the majority.

Mika from the studio: Wait, I'm confused. I THOUGHT HE WAS A MAVERICK!

Carney: Well... he's a maverick within the establishment... he's on the edges of the establishment.

-500 And Counting

This is truly frightening.

Dow Jones 1 year ago: 14,020

Dow Jones now: 8,758

In the time it took me to write this post, it moved from -611 to -469 to -510.


UPDATE (4:27pm):



... for fuck's sake!

An Open Letter To Joe Scarborough

Inspired by Bob Cesca.

_______________
From: Broadway Carl
To: joe@msnbc.com
Cc: phil.griffin@nbc.com, steve.capus@nbc.com

Subject: Who is the real John McCain?


Dear Mr. Scarborough,

I am writing this e-mail in response to watching your show on MSNBC this morning, October 9th.

You spent a good amount of time speaking of the negative campaigning that's been going on in the McCain campaign, their suggestions that we don't know who Barack Obama is and Palin's comments trying to link him to rehabilitated domestic terrorist Bill Ayers.

As you well know, their caustic campaigning over the last few days have brought about frightening and angry outbursts from members of their audience. Shouts of "terrorist," kill him" and "treason" accompany the rallies, and although the McCain campaign has put out a statement condemning these outbursts, they seem very passive when those cries are actually happening. In fact, their choice to make their campaign an attack on Obama instead of speaking on the issues is inciting the crowd to this frenzied behavior.

I know that you and your journalists on your daily panels have to report these incidents, but what I don't understand is that if you're going to go on for approximately 20 minutes on Obama and Bill Ayers, showing clips of McCain and Palin with their negative message trying to cast Obama as an unknown, where is the objective reporting on Sarah Palin and what her associations could possibly be? You'd have to agree that Palin's past has not been nearly as scrutinized as Obama's as she's only been on the national scene for about a month now.

Here's what I would like to know:

- After all the criticism Obama received because of Rev. Wright, what is Palin's relationship with her Rev. Muthee, a man who drove a woman out of a village for witchcraft? Does Palin believe in witchcraft?

- Why is John McCain "palling around" with G. Gordon Liddy, a former Watergate burglar who instructed people how to murder federal agents?

- What is Sarah Palin's relationship with the Alaska Independence Party, a party that advocates seceding from the U.S. and whose founder, Joe Vogler, was gruesomely murdered under mysterious circumstances, some say in an apparent illegal plastics explosives sale gone bad? This same founder said, "the fires of Hell are glaciers compared to my hate for the American Government, and I won't be buried under their damn flag ..." What is Todd Palin's association with Vogler?

- What is her husband Todd's relationship with the AIP?

- Why is Palin sequestered from the press? We haven't seen any press conferences from Palin. What is she hiding?

- Why did the McCain campaign try to block a bipartisan investigation into the Trooper-Gate scandal? What is Palin hiding?

- Why is McCain not condemning those introducing him at rallies who attempt to disparage Obama by using "Hussein" anymore like he did with radio host Bill Cunningham a while back?

- The U.S. Council for World Freedom was part of an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. John McCain was on the board. Why was McCain on the same board with Nazi sympathizers?

Of course, there are many more questions than just these to ask and your team, being fair and balanced journalists, should ask them. If you're going to "report" and play the guilt by association game on Obama, then the pendulum should swing both ways and questions of McCain's and Palin's associations should be answered as well.

Thank you
__________________________

Maybe you should write a letter as well.

Joe Scarborough
joe@msnbc.com

MSNBC
Mr. Phil Griffin,
Senior Vice President, News
NBC Television Network
30 Rockefeller Plz
New York, NY 10112
phil.griffin@nbc.com

Steve Capus,
President, NBC News
steve.capus@nbc.com

MSNBC
letters@msnbc.com
MSNBC/Microsoft-NBC
30 Rockefeller Plz
3rd Fl
New York, NY 10112
(212) 664-4444

Mika's Lost

It seems to me that in the past, the only person trying to bring some semblance of balance to Morning Joke™ was Mika Brzezinski. At least she of all the hosts on that show, tried to stay on an even keel. She is now officially lost.

Ever since Sarah Palin came on to the scene, Mika has sat behind her desk in complete awe. She's fallen hook, line and sinker for the culture of Palin and has closed her mind to the substance of Palin. Using terms like, "amazing" and "skillful," Mika sits there completely dumbfounded, wonder why the McCain/Palin ticket hasn't skyrocketed and left Obama in the dust. It's Sarah Palin for Christ's sake! How is it that more people besides the Conservative base aren't seeing what Mika's seeing?! Perhaps it's because we still have the rational function working in our brains.

I've watched for the last half hour as she hasn't uttered a word, just shaking her head in confusion with all these pro Obama poll numbers, thinking, "But Sarah.... SARAH!!!!" The rest of the panel is analyzing while she is brooding. The question was asked: If the election were held today, would Obama win? Everyone said yes. Mika had one caveat. "Well anything can happen. But if it were held today," she said as her face sunk, "then Obama would probably win by default. Just like the debate." I wonder what debate she was watching. And Mika, winning by default means there's no challenger. That may figuratively be the case, but I mean running unopposed.

Mika has lost her way. She's forgotten or maybe refuses to realize that Palin is not at the top of the ticket. I never thought that the likes of Joe Scarborough wuld be talking Mika down. Mika used to look like this:

Now she looks like this:

Oh, and by the way, after she said the "default" line with a forlorn look on her face, she didn't say another word throughout the rest of the show - a good 45 minutes.

When Is A Town Hall Debate Not A Town Hall Debate?

When the Republican spin operatives say is isn't.

As Logan Murphy at C&L makes clear, a half hour before the debate was even over, the GOP spin doctors were already sending out e-mails disparaging the debate as not really a town hall format and therefore a disadvantage to McCain.

Yeah, that's right. They saw the writing on the wall with McCain before the gig was over and didn't blame the debater, they blamed the style of the debate. The "town hall" debate that BOTH candidates agreed to - signing off on the rules of the debate in advance - the "town hall" setting that John McCain asked Obama to weekly. The "town hall" style that would've shown the country who connects with the average American - "Joe Six-pack," if you will.

How pathetic. But in a strange way, they spin machine is right. A real town hall would've had a back and forth between the audience member who asked the question and the debater. The rules gave the debater a chance to avoid answering the question or changing the subject. Perhaps if Obama had agreed to do the town halls in the first place, he would have had this thing wrapped up a month ago.

That One

That is the moment of the debate that will be remembered for a long, long time. Senator John Sidney McCain III has such disdain for Senator Barack Obama, that he can't even bear to speak his name, instead referring to him as "That one." It was ugly. It was arrogant. It was dismissive. It was a quick peek at the real John McCain. Eyes wide open, nostrils flaring. Complete and utter disgust for having to prove himself against someone who he thinks is beneath him.

This is completely unbecoming of someone aspiring to the office of President of the United States. McCain's wanton ambition is to be the leader of the free world, yet he can't bear to utter his opponent's name. He can blurt out Hugo Chavez with ease. He can fumble through Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but he can't say "Senator Barack Obama." He calls him "That one."
And just in case you think it might be overreaction, take a look at the end of the debate. McCain pats Obama on the back, Obama puts his hand out to shake and McCain refuses. Instead he points to his beer heiress wife and Obama graciously shakes her hand.



Very unpresidential.

More on the debate later...

Debate On! Part Deux

Three hours until Obama/McThuselah II, "The Nastiness in Nashville." Will we see a blood vessel burst in McCain's temple? Will he have his Colonel Jessup moment? Will he lose it and physically attack Obama like Mickey goes after Kramer on Seinfeld?

We'll find out soon enough.

Meanwhile, the Dow shit the bed again, losing over 500 points, and fuckwad and the pig with lipstick want to talk about Bill Ayers. Morons.

Olbermann's First Special Comment on Palin - Terrorist Ties

I called it!

Dow Falls Below 10,000 - First Time In 4 Years

10:45am -- Dow: - 556 Nasdaq: - 122

2:18pm -- Dow: - 641 Nasdaq: - 144

2:35pm -- Dow: - 733 Nasdaq: - 156

2:48pm -- Dow: - 796 Nasdaq: - 165

5pm -- Dow: - 369.88

NY TIMES: Chaotic Day Ends With Stocks Off 3.8%

Another Smear E-Mail in a Never-Ending Series: Iraq Safer Than Chicago

Another pathetic attempt to make is seem like all is going well in Iraq, children are singing, birds are chirping, dogs and cats are happily coexisting and that if Barack Obama wins the Presidency, the US will become one major "combat zone" just like Chicago and worse than Iraq - oh yeah, and Obama's from Chicago.

Here's the ridiculously inane e-mail (as received):

The US should immediately pull out of Chicago!

CHANGE CHICAGO NOW!!!

Body count. In the last six months 292 killed (murdered) in Chicago, 221 killed in Iraq .

Sens. Barack Obama & Dick Durbin, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Gov. Rod Blogojevich, House leader Mike Madigan, Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan (daughter of Mike), Mayor Richard M. Daley (son of Mayor Richard J. Daley).....our leadership in Illinois.....all Democrats.

Thank you for the combat zone in Chicago . Of course they're all blaming each other. Can't blame Republicans, they're aren't any!

State pension fund $44 Billion in debt, worst in country. Cook County ( Chicago ) sales tax 10.25% highest in country. (Look'em up if you want). Chicago school system one of the worst in country.

This is the political culture that Obama comes from in Illinois, and He's gonna 'fix' Washington politics?

Well, well... where to begin?...

As usual, the originators of these types of e-mail don't link it to any pertinent information to verify these numbers. The author doesn't specify what "six months" he's talking about. The number of US military casualties from January through June is 2008. The number for the year to date is 270.

Since I don't want to spend too much time on this, I was not able to find a homicide rate for Chicago for the current year. The total homicide rate for Chicago in 2007 was 442, a 6.2% from from the 2006 total of 471.

So let's just assume that the year to date number of 292 for 2008 is an average and close to correct. Is the author then trying to equate military deaths in Iraq to civilian deaths in Chicago? If we are acting as a police force in Iraq, shouldn't the author equate the military deaths in Iraq to police officer casualties in Chicago? If that were the case, then year to date the number would be US casualties - 270, Chicago Police - 2.

And if you're going to use homicide numbers in Chicago, shouldn't you use the Iraqi civilian casualties? Or do those innocent civilians not count?

The death toll of Iraqi civilians has been very sketchy depending on who's counting. From the Congressional Research Service updated on August 27, 2008:

...For some time, the United Nations attempted to release comprehensive statistics on Iraqi civilian deaths. From August 2005 to March 2007, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) published a series of quarterly reports on human rights in Iraq that included sections on Iraqi civilian casualties. On April 25, 2007, however, the Iraqi government announced its intention to cease providing civilian casualty figures to the United Nations. Ivana Vuco, a UN human rights officer, stated, “[Iraqi] government officials had made clear during discussions that they believed releasing high casualty numbers would make it more difficult to quell unrest.”

...In an interview with the Boston Globe, Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, the chief U.S. military spokesman, said Iraqi ministry civilian death tolls estimates have risen from a low of 568 in December 2007 and 541 in January 2008 to roughly 721 in February 2008 and 1,082 in March 2008. “There was somewhere on the order of a 25 or 30 percent increase in the number of civilian casualties when you consider March compared to February,” Smith said, although “the numbers are still nowhere near what they had been last summer.” The New York Times reports that the Iraqi Health Ministry lists a total of 865 civilian deaths for July 2008 and 975 deaths for June 2008.

So, 975 Iraqi deaths reported in June as opposed to a claim of 292 deaths in Chicago for an unknown six month span. Kinda blows that e-mail out out of the water, doesn't it? And you'll forgive me if I believe that these "official numbers" aren't exactly accurate. With the reluctance of the Iraqi government to release their casualty numbers, the zealousness of the Bush administration to tamp down the numbers and use the surge as an end-all-be-all for success in Iraq, who knows how many Iraqi civilians have been killed?

Here are some other estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths from the same congressional report:

Iraq Body Count - March 19, 2003 - August 22, 2008: 86,661 - 94,558
Iraq Coalition Casualty Count - April 28, 2005 - August 22, 2008: 43,099
Brookings Iraq Index - May 2003 - August 14, 2008: 113,616
The Associated Press - April 2005 - February 13, 2008: 34,832 dead - 40,174 wounded
The Iraq Family Health Study (the “WHO study”) - March 2003 - June 2006: 151,000
The Lancet, “Mortality after the 2003 Invasion of Iraq” - March 19, 2003 - July 31, 2006: 426,369 -793,663

And finally, this number from Just Foreign Policy.Org:

The estimate that over a million Iraqis have died received independent confirmation from a prestigious British polling agency in September 2007. Opinion Research Business estimated that 1.2 million Iraqis have been killed violently since the US invasion.

As for the tax rate and the debt, the national debt $10 TRILLION and a yearly budget deficit of over $400 billion, but I'm not going to get into that portion of this stupid ass e-mail because for me, the main issue was the ludicrous idea that Iraq is safer than Chicago.

Maybe the originator of this e-mail should take a walk down a Baghdad street and compare it to a walk down a Chicago street. If given the opportunity, I'd bet my house they would pass on it.